Hi there! I don't know much about Wii stuffs (or where to put this thread!), but I like to read up on the technical aspects of things. Something recently caught my eye, and don't know exactly what my Wii is doing, just wondering if some insight could teach me.

I've been on a Super Mario 64 (VC) playing binge lately and I've noticed something...

I load the game off of SD in System Menu 4.1. Initially, it will do its thing and load the game into memory (MEM2, I thought) and then launch it as if the game was stored on NAND. No big deal.

But being on a playing binge, I'll just shut the whole console off after a good save point. Now, when I power-cycle the Wii (no WC24 or standby), and restart it after a day or so, I'll go to launch Super Mario 64 off the SD menu. When I re-launch, there is no loading time -- by which I mean the SD menu doesn't try to put the game into the "launchpad" again. It is an instant start, which means that whatever data I stored off of that SD menu is still there.

So what I'm wondering is -- does System Menu 4.1 load the SD-launched titles into MEM2 (as I thought), and MEM2 isn't cleared after a power cycle (makes sense to me, considering WiiWare/VC titles are limited to a certain size)? Or is there somewhere else on that little bitty NAND that the system menu uses for a launchpad that wouldn't be cleared between power cycles?

I'd think MEM2 would clear itself between on/offs (that system menu software has to sit somewhere, right?), which leads me to believe that the titles launched from the SD menu put themselves somewhere else.

Or am I wrong?

Any insight? This is just out of pure curiosity, I'm sure this has been documented already on the wiki, but reading register maps confuses the hell out of me. Hahahaha!

It actually copies them temporarily to the Wii's NAND (IIRC..). So what I assume is happening is, it leaves it on the NAND until you run another game from the SD Menu which would overwrite to where ever on the NAND. For example, you run SM64 for the 1st time and it copies to the NAND. When you play it again it runs from the NAND instead. If you run a different game from the SD menu, and then try SM64 then it will copy to NAND again.
I'm not 100% on this but it seems like it would make sense.

bg4545 is correct. I can confirm. The Wii loads the game temporarily to the NAND and until it is overwritten stays there and is playable instantly as if it were on the system directly. I tried this with 3 games and it worked with all 3. Plus I have heard this from other sources. It is nothing to worry about, it is normal Wii operations. Hope this helps. Later.

Elmoreas

Thanks for the input!

I hadn't thought of it before, but between running the games after a power cycle, there is indeed an "SD Card Menu Data" entry in the channels management, Lo and behold, it says "Super Mario 64" on it.

I'm guessing that will clear itself when I run something else.

Thanks again, I was just curious.